What is in your cup?

[ProfCrash]

Camel's Breath comes from Gong Fu. TG Keemun is very good,as are their individual Puerh touchas.

16 ounces of skim milk with my salad. Need to increase my protein in take and calcium is a good way of doing that. And I enjoy milk.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Camel's Breath comes from Gong Fu. TG Keemun is very good,as are their individual Puerh touchas.

Oh... My apologies to Gong fu and TG.
To me, almost any Keemun is good. Some just better than others.

16 ounces of skim milk with my salad. Need to increase my protein in take and calcium is a good way of doing that. And I enjoy milk.

I've been thinking about my calcium intake lately so have been visiting Dairy Queen as often as I can...

Here's a photo of this morning's breakfast... Two different types of rice, two different main dishes (mine is called Pad Pat Tua and my mouth is still burning but I can't get the smile off my face) Chiang Mai sausage, hard boiled eggs, ripe pineapple, rose apple, and Longan berries. All for under $3.00 USD! I love it!


Stitchawl

[CRussel]

I'd have to agree about the Keemun - there's good Keemun, better Keemun, and great Keemun. Right now I have 4 Keemuns here, and I added a 5th with this Murcie's order.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

There are a lot of folks who LIKE 'Yorkshire Gold.' I'm just not one of them. You may love it.

Well, the description didn't exactly sound like my cup of tea. I really like the smoothness of a good Keemun. I don't generally look at strongly astringent or bitter teas as a good thing. They pretty much require milk to be palatable.

I have a really good selection of teas here, with the only real lack being a good breakfast tea. Which should have some astringency, but not so much that I need milk to drink it. So I'm going to give some of Murcie's blends a try. They're all quite reasonably priced, so trying them isn't a big hardship. And the possibility of finding a good fit is worth the effort, since they're local and shipping won't be an issue.

Meanwhile, a lovely mug of Puttabong Estate First Flush Darjeeling this afternoon for my afternoon break. This is the last of last year's harvest, and I see that the new harvest is just showing up at Peet's and other sources. This is really my favourite of the First Flush Darjeeling teas.

This is our first new crop tea of 2013. The high altitude of Darjeeling makes for distinct seasons, beginning each year with a cold winter dormant period. Then when the weather begins to warm in March, the bushes put forth their first leaves of the year, known as the “first flush.” The cool weather makes for very slow growth, which greatly concentrates the flavor and allows for very selective plucking. This tea is from the renowned Puttabong Estate, and has a bright fragrance and fresh flavor with a nutty honey sweetness

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Here's a photo of this morning's breakfast... Two different types of rice, two different main dishes (mine is called Pad Pat Tua and my mouth is still burning but I can't get the smile off my face) Chiang Mai sausage, hard boiled eggs, ripe pineapple, rose apple, and Longan berries. All for under $3.00 USD! I love it!

That's a breakfast to really set you up for the day! Though are you absolutely sure that's a sausage...?

The longan berries look like what we would call lychees. Is it the same thing?

Rooibos and a toasted wrap with pineapple cheese topping for my breakfast.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by orlok

That's a breakfast to really set you up for the day! Though are you absolutely sure that's a sausage...?

It's a variety of sausage that is only found in the north of Thailand, aptly named 'Chiang Mai Sausage.' Quite spicy but not hot at all. Oddly enough, Thais eat a wide variety of sausage, some made with glass noodles, others made with lots of rice, and still others that are fermented! I'm not a fan of the rice type, but I could eat all the others every day. There is a dish called 'Yum Moo Yaw' that is a very hot and spicy sausage salad using white pork sausage. I love it, but it's almost too hot for me to eat.

The longan berries look like what we would call lychees. Is it the same thing?

No, different. Longan are half the size of Lychee, and half the flavor. Probably somewhat related though as the pit inside looks almost the same.

Lychee are tied with mangosteens as my favorite fruit. In the US and in Japan (and now I guess in the UK too,) when seeing Lychee, the outer peel was always a brown color, and often dry enough to crack. Until I started visiting Thailand 25 years ago I never knew that freshly harvested Lychee are bright red, and the peel is soft and leathery. The are in season now, and it's all I can do not to eat a kilo of them every day... then spend half the night in the bathroom... There is such a thing as too much fruit. Howeve... talking about them has now created a void in my existance that can only be filled with fresh lychee... Time to make a lychee run to the local street vendor stand.

The glass if Iced tea that I made when I sat down at the computer will have to wait. My berry is calling me....


Stitchawl

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

The are in season now, and it's all I can do not to eat a kilo of them every day... then spend half the night in the bathroom... There is such a thing as too much fruit. Howeve... talking about them has now created a void in my existance that can only be filled with fresh lychee... Time to make a lychee run to the local street vendor stand.

Go easy on them then . Yes, I only know lychees with the hard brown spiky shell, and am also very fond of them - unfortunately not very easy to get over here, at least in the cultural wasteland in which I live. Have to make do with cherries, which is nowadays one of my fave fruits.

[ProfCrash]

Bai Beeng Moonlight White Pu Erh. This one was tucked away on my tea shelf. When I went to sort the shelf I found it. Thrilled that I did because it is really good.

[orange!]

Dark Magic coffee.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by orlok

Go easy on them then . Yes, I only know lychees with the hard brown spiky shell, and am also very fond of them - unfortunately not very easy to get over here, at least in the cultural wasteland in which I live. Have to make do with cherries, which is nowadays one of my fave fruits.

Stop the presses! "Spiky shell?" Lychee have a rough skin (that I wouldn't call spiky,) either red and leathery when new or brown and brittle when older. Look at these photo links.

Is it possible that you are actually getting 'rambutan?' That another cousin with the same white flesh, large stone in the center, but has a very spiky outer hull. Again, red when newly harvested and turning brown with age. Those do taste quite a bit like Longan, but larger.


Stitchawl

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Stop the presses! "Spiky shell?" Lychee have a rough skin (that I wouldn't call spiky,) either red and leathery when new or brown and brittle when older. Look at these photo links.

Is it possible that you are actually getting 'rambutan?' That another cousin with the same white flesh, large stone in the center, but has a very spiky outer hull. Again, red when newly harvested and turning brown with age. Those do taste quite a bit like Longan, but larger.


Stitchawl

No, I did mean the ones in your "brown and brittle" pic. The raised bits feel a bit spiky, that's all I was referring to. It's so long since I've had an unpeeled one, maybe my memory is enhancing the spikiness .

Black coffee in my cup, though I'd rather have cold beer on this hot day, especially after having spent lunchtime raking dead moss from the grass and sowing new seeds.

[ProfCrash]

third steeping of my Pu Erh

[CRussel]

Second steeping of my Anniversary Breakfast Blend. (Which is all it really holds up for, IMO.)

Another perfect day here in Paradise. Today's task is to finish off the 5 Kg. of Mexican Chorizo I started earlier in the week. It's in cubes right now, macerating with the spices and vinegar. Today it gets ground and stuffed into 32mm pig casings, and then hung to dry a bit in the sausage refrigerator. It doesn't really cure, but needs to dry out a bit. Then will get vacuum sealed and frozen, to be thawed out for use as needed.

[cromag]

Mug #2 is waiting on the kitchen counter. I won't keep it waiting long.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by orange!

Dark Magic coffee.

oooo Dark Magic is one of my favorites. I assume you mean the one by Green Mountain?

[CRussel]

Ah, finishing out the night with good single malt. Talisker and then a glass of Lagavulin.